A Dangerous Harbor (24 page)

Of course, this left out
Myne's
plans for Jeff, but who was she to argue?
 
"So, when're you leaving?"

Astrid looked down at her lap, her buoyant mood slipping. "That may have to be put off for a bit. He still has some… well, one little problem to fix."

"You mean like telling
Myne
he's going to leave with you instead of her?"

Astrid's chin quivered a bit in the delivery but she stubbornly plowed ahead. "Exactly. That conniving little bitch is finally going to get what she deserves."

"And what would that be?"

Astrid's lips tightened and she had the look of someone who now wished she hadn't been so forthcoming.

"Okay," Katy said, "so how many times have you two fought over some guy that probably doesn't love either of you?"

"Of course he loves me!"

"Why? Because he says so?"

Astrid's natural hazel eyes stared back at Katy, and for the first time, Katy noticed what she hadn't before. There was a familiarity about the girl, as if she'd seen her somewhere before. And then she had it.

 
"So, is Jeff the real problem between you two girls?"

"I told you, I missed out on my one and only big chance at
American Idol
, and it's all her
fault
!"

"So you're honor bound to take Jeff back, no matter what?"

"Well, he was mine to start with."

"People don't belong to us, Astrid, you know that better than anyone. Your sister is selfish, but I doubt she really understands why you're so angry with her."

"Sister! What makes you think…?"

"There is a resemblance, you know. You two have the same shaped face and you both have that little crooked pinky that some siblings have. I notice things like that. It's my job, and besides, I have a sister and we've been fighting and making up for as long as I can remember, so your behavior towards
Myne
makes sense."

Astrid looked down at her chest. "We
were
born on that dumb catamaran, but it was my mom who jumped ship in P.V." Astrid raised her head to meet Katy's eyes. Was it to gauge Katy's ability to swallow her story? "My dad kept us with him until they worked out the divorce and then they split us up. I went to LA with him 'cause I'm the oldest and
Myne
went with our mom to Texas."

"Uh-huh. I guess that explains the East Texas accent."

"Yeah, yeah, and tomorrow she'll have an Aussie accent. She thinks she's an actress. I hadn't seen her in nine years and she decides to come out to LA and live with us, made the round of Hollywood agents and totally
bombed
her screen test. If she'd stuck with the singing act we put together, she might've had another shot at Hollywood, but she left after we had a fight about it and I haven't seen her until we landed here. So, here we are again, living on the water, only the boats are whole lot cooler."

"So the fighting between you two is really the loss of your audition, not Jeff?"

"I didn't come preloaded with the double-D's but I'm a better singer than she'll ever be. She was just eye-candy, anyway. She got mom's figure, I got daddy's brains."

"You don't have to look like Dolly Parton to get an agent, Astrid."

"She still screwed up my big chance at
American Idol
."

"If it makes you feel any better, she's going to be out in the cold now that Spencer's been arrested."

She hooted, "Lost her meal ticket, has she? Sweet."

"Sisters don't always do it right," Katy said, thinking back to when she shot her sister's stalker. Maybe if she had tackled him instead of wrestling him for his gun she wouldn't be down here in Mexico now. But then she'd probably still be planning a wedding with a fiancé she no longer wanted, and she never would have met Raul
Vignaroli
.

"Tell you what—I'll talk to Jeff," she said, giving Astrid her most sincere smile. It wasn't a lie; she had every intention of questioning Jeff again. "If you'll tell me what you know about Fred."

"Fred?" Astrid was suddenly cagey. "I mean sure, what can I tell you?"

"For starters, how did you get the job with him?"

Astrid's easy posture went rigid and her hands quieted. "Newspaper ad."

But the staccato responses indicated otherwise. "Been with him long?"

"Two years. But I told you Jeff and I are leaving."

"Uh-huh. Astrid, you can tell me, do you suspect that Fred had something to do with the murder of that girl?"

Astrid jumped as if she'd been pinched. "Fred? No! I mean, you just said Spencer was arrested for the murder of that girl, right?"

Katy was now suspicious. "But you know something about it, don't you?"

Astrid, eyes wide, shook her head. "Not me. I wasn't even here that night. I was on my boat, asleep, alone."

"How about the night Booth was found in the water? You were there."

"I was there to see Fred. We were going over his next show. You should ask Wally and his wife about Booth. They're the ones who plied him with rum to get the dirty on Spencer, and that's all I'm going to say about that." Astrid mumbled a quick excuse and was gone in a flash.

Rum and narcotics? Raul ignored Booth's heroin use because the man had stomach cancer and kept the chief abreast of the Americans on the dock and yet Booth, dying of cancer, was a short-timer and knew it, and yet he gambled on blackmail as a way of getting some ready cash? Surely not for himself. Then was he helping someone else? Perhaps
Myne
, as a way out from under Spencer's thumb?

She was getting ready to take the trash out of her boat when she heard someone else calling her name. "Katy, Katy! I'm so glad I found you," she cried, throwing herself into Katy's unsuspecting arms.
 
"Where you been? They arrested Spencer yesterday!"

Katy put an arm around the sobbing girl and pushed her into the boat. "Yes, I know, but I've been caught up with a problem of my own. Come on, we'll sort this out down below."

The little blond collapsed onto the settee with its odd assortment of temporary pillows. Noting her lack of interest in the missing cushions, Katy mentally deleted
Myne
from the list. She poured a cup of coffee for
Myne
and handed it to her.

"Will they let you see him?"

Myne
ignored the question and knuckled her reddened eyes. "This wasn't supposed to happen. He told me he paid off a judge and the police. Now I
gotta
go talk to his lawyer, see if there's anybody left that can help."

"The police found his gun and…" She started to say more but decided against it, not if
Myne
was still willing to cover for Spencer. "Well, the law is different here,
Myne
. Their laws are based on the Napoleonic doctrines—guilty until proven innocent. There's no bail for a murder charge."

Myne
sniffled then sat up straight. "Oh my God! They'll impound his boat, too."

"You should go stay with someone. Maybe one of Spencer's friends?"

Myne's
next words stunned Katy. "He said anything should happen to him, I should come to you."

Katy stuttered. "M—m—me?" Then she did a mental head smack. That first night on Spencer's boat, the smoke signals between Spencer and Booth. If it all came apart, Spencer, already under suspicion, saw Katy as the perfect foil; but did he do it so that
Myne
would be safe or was he setting up his mistress/employee as a spy in the opposing camp?

 
"Dry your eyes and tell me what you know about that night. And don't tell me you didn't know he had a prostitute at the boat," she said, thinking of
Myne's
pink gingham dress coming off in a single swipe while she entertained Spencer's prospective clients.

"I never said I didn't know. I thought that passel of lawyers he thinks so highly of
woulda
been able to keep him out of jail."

"
Myne
, someone has been giving the police anonymous tips. First, when the girl was murdered and now someone told them where to find the gun. Would that be you?"

"Not me! The man still signs my checks. Why would I
wanna
bust that up?"

"How about Jeff?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Jeff said he was moving off the boat 'cause Spencer owed him wages, but I never took Jeff for a snitch, least ways, I didn't think he was."

"If Jeff is off Spencer's yacht, where'd he move to?"

"He moved onto Fred's boat, which I'm sure suits Astrid just fine and dandy."

So that was why Jeff might or might not work out. The war between Astrid and
Myne
was heating up again.

Myne
picked at the crumbled tissue in her hand. "Are they sure it's Spencer's gun?"

"'
Fraid
so. Where were you when the police first came for Spencer?"

"My room's down the hall. I don't sleep good most nights, so I took a pill. I didn't hear
nothin
' till Booth woke me up and said I had to talk to the police. I told them I didn't know if he had a girl aboard or not. He had girls from Antonio's delivered several times a week so it wasn't anything out of the ordinary and I wouldn't have had anything to say about it if he had six of '
em
every night, you know?"

No, she didn't know. It would have been ludicrous to try to imagine herself in
Myne's
platforms. Katy looked down at her aged Dockers and grimaced at the neglected shape of her own tanned legs.

Seeing Katy's frown,
Myne
stuck out a lower lip. "I
din't
take you for a sour puss, you being with the police an' all. But I guess I was wrong."

Katy held up a palm. "I'm not judging you,
Myne
."

"I owe Spencer a lot, you know."

"I understand. He got you out of that strip club. But now you and Jeff are together, you can leave, start a new life, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm still sore at him for leaving me all alone on that big
ol
' boat."

"Do you know if he had a favorite?"

"Jeff don't go for the girls at Antonio's… oh, you mean Spencer. He didn't have no favorites, only that they had to be young. Spence likes '
em
young." There was a momentary wistfulness that passed across her face. "I was just a kid, fooling myself to think he would marry me if I was
preggers
. That little scare got him a vasectomy and me an abortion." She shrugged. "It was either that or he was going to kick me out. After that, it was all business between us."

"He's married, you know."

With a floppy wave of her hand she dismissed the idea. "They have an arrangement. She stays out of his hair and she gets to keep her high
falutin
' lifestyle in LA."

This was the typical married man's version as told to a gullible girl, but what was the real story?

 
"I'm fucked!" she said, wiping at the tears threatening to spill. "He gets convicted, I'm out of a job
and
a home."

"
Myne
, if the police were going to seize Spencer's yacht, they would've done it already. I think it's safe for you to go back."